Just 2 weeks after we reported from the the European Bouldering Championships in Innsbruck, last weekend saw Toronto host the first round of the IFSC Boulder World Cup.
The first shock of the weekend came when recently crowned European Champion Jan Hojer failed to even make it out of the qualifying rounds, and the men’s event continued to throw up surprises all weekend. Some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Silver medalist in Innsbruck Jakob Schubert, Frenchman Guillaume Glairon Mondet and all rounder Sean McColl, all went out in the semi finals but the biggest shocks of all were to come in the final.
With some of the bigger names missing, Adam Ondra looked nailed on to claim the win but on the day he just couldn’t get the better of 18 year old American Nathan Coleman, who took silver in just his second ever World Cup event, or Frenchman Alban Levier, who won gold having never finished higher than 5th in either of the 2 World Cups he’d entered before.
The women’s event had far fewer surprises but it would appear that competition will be fierce this year, with all of the big names looking strong in Canada. The line up for the final was probably the strongest in a World Cup for several years and included European Champion Julianne Wurm, last year’s overall World Cup winner Akiyo Noguchi and bouldering legend Anna Stohr. As many predicted, those 3 made up the podium, with Anna on the top step, Akiyo in second and Julianne in third. Alex Puccio’s off season training push has obviously paid off too as she claimed fourth, with a very on form Katharina Saurwein following up her bronze in Innsbruck with fifth in Toronto. Shock Results From The IFSC Bouldering Champs in Toronto | EpicTV Climbing Daily, Ep. 510
